See what "Horns" is in other dictionaries. cattle wild animals with horns title
The high mountains are sparsely populated by people. The cultivation of the land is difficult here, and it can only be used in summer as a pasture for domestic animals. In the last century, the mountains have become a popular place for entertainment - first they were chosen by climbers, later by skiers. The laying of ski tracks, the construction of lifting devices, hotels and recreation centers sometimes cause adverse changes in the natural environment.
High in the mountains, even on the rocks, flowers of extraordinary beauty grow, such as aquilegia.
The highest city in the world is Lhasa (China), located in Tibet at an altitude of 3,630 meters.
Mountains of North America.
The Rocky Mountains are located in the western part of North America, stretching from north to south - from Alaska to Mexico - for a distance of 3,200 kilometers. The conditions of the local climate are not conducive to the development of agriculture, but are quite favorable for the summer pastures of fat herds of large and small cattle.
During the last ice age, as glaciers covered more and more of the earth's surface towards the equator, animals retreated south in search of warmer regions. In Europe and Asia, they met on their way an insurmountable obstacle in the form of mountains stretching from west to east. Some species of animals became extinct, never being able to cross the mountains.
In America, the mountains are located in a different direction - from north to south - and this has contributed to the survival of more different species.
The highest peak in North America - Mount McKinley - 6194 m, Alaska.
snow sheep
The bighorn sheep is larger than the ordinary sheep, its skin is dark in color, and it has long twisted horns. Snow sheep arrange such loud battles with their horns that they can be heard from afar.
snow goat
The mountain goat is a big fan of salt and often travels miles in search of salt deposits, which she licks greedily. Its food is very diverse - from willow to herbs and conifers.
Grizzly
Grizzlies are once a very common species in the Rocky Mountains; currently preserved only in Alaska and in the mountains of Canada.
Wolverine
Wolverine. This animal, similar to a small bear, is found in the northern forests. She leads a solitary life and every evening digs a hole in which she spends the night. The wolverine is a predator, trotting or jumping, and attacks in the open, so its intended prey often manages to escape. However, the wolverine does not refuse from animals killed by a bear or a cougar.
Andes.
In the western part South America is the longest mountain range in the world. These are the Andes (Andean Cordillera) - high mountains stretching from north to south. The highest peak of the Andes is Mount Aconcagua, its height is 6,959 meters.
The mountains of the Andean Cordillera are very high and steep, most of them all year round covered with snow. And only to the north, where the climate is somewhat milder, people live on the plateaus. The Andes were formed in a relatively recent geological epoch as a result of large displacements earth's surface, thanks to which they rose from the depths of the sea. For this reason, there are many active volcanoes in the Andes, one of them is Ojos del Salado with a height of 6,863 meters.
Condor This large bird of prey is found at any altitude, up to 5,000 meters above sea level. Like other vultures, he lives in the company of his relatives, and not as a hermit like an eagle.
andean condor- the largest of the birds of prey, its mass reaches 12 kilograms, and its wingspan is 3 meters.
spectacled bear
Spectacled bear. This little black bear is named like this unusual name because of the yellowish ring around the eyes in the form of glasses. Found in the Northern Andes.
Lama
This animal has been considered the property of the Andes since the time of the Incas, whose culture reached its peak here by the middle of the 15th century. The llama has a dense and very delicate coat, which is the best suited to the cold mountain climate. A disturbed lama defends himself in a very peculiar way: he vigorously spits at the enemy, completely discouraging him.
The llama looks like a small camel, only without the hump.
Vicuna. The smallest representative of camelids, usually weighs no more than 50 kilograms. The vicuña is bred for its beautiful soft coat.
Guanaco. The wild ancestor of the llama. This is the largest mammal in South America - its mass reaches 75 kilograms.
Alpaca is a hybrid of guanaco and vicuña.
Mountains of Asia.
On the roof of the world.
The roof of the world - this is the name of the Pamir, a mountain system in Central Asia, which occupies almost 100 thousand square meters. km. and is located on the territory of Tajikistan, Afghanistan and China. The average height of the plateaus exceeds 3,000 meters, the ridges reach a height of more than 6,000 meters. There are deep gorges and glaciers, alpine deserts and steppe areas, river valleys and lakes.
The highest peak in the world: Everest (Chomolungma), height 8,846 meters.
The largest glacier in the mountains of Asia: Siachen, 75.5 km.
white-breasted bear
White-breasted bear. He has a black coat with a light stripe on his chest, resembling a collar. It feeds on plants, berries, fruits, as well as invertebrates and small crustaceans, which it catches in rivers. It lives mainly in forests, where there is more than enough food for it and where it quickly climbs trees.
four-horned antelope
Four-horned antelope. Large, almost like gazelles, these animals form mating pairs or live alone. Males have four horns, and the front ones are very small. This antelope is found in the wooded mountains of India, near water bodies.
musk deer
Musk deer. An atypical representative of the deer family: it has no horns, and the upper fangs are very developed, like those of predators. It lives in wooded and steep mountains from Tibet to Siberia. One of its glands, the so-called musky sac, produces a secret with a very strong odor.
diamond pheasant
Diamond pheasant. It has colorful plumage and a long tail. Lives in the mountains at an altitude of 2,000 - 3,000 meters in dense thickets of bamboo, which feeds on buds.
Takin and yak.
Like a bull, Takin is more massive and clumsy, and in addition, he has adapted to life at an altitude of 2,500 to 4,000 meters, only in winter he descends lower due to lack of food. And the yak lives even higher up to 6,000 meters. Locals have been breeding yaks since time immemorial. In the wild, these animals are preserved in Tibet.
If a hunter frightens off a takin, he hides in a forest thicket and lies down, bending his head low to the ground. He is so sure that now no one will see him that you can quietly approach him. Little Takin is born after 8 months of intrauterine development.
The yak has a very thick black skin, which, high in the mountains, protects it from the cold. Domestic yaks are bred in the highlands of Asia as working and, in part, dairy cattle.
Irbis
This representative of the cat family is also called the snow leopard. The length of his body along with the tail is more than 2 meters. It has wide paws so as not to fall into the snow, and a thick skin, the color of which merges with the color of the rocks among which it lives. The irbis is extremely dexterous: it can chase its prey by jumping along the steep slopes of mountains, and is the only one among the cats capable of jumping 15 meters.
Usually, a female snow leopard gives birth to two cubs. After they stop feeding on milk, the mother takes them with her on hunting trips, in this case setting up an ambush in high places to increase the visibility range. In summer, snow leopards live very high in the mountains, and in winter they descend into the valleys.
Panda
The giant panda, or bamboo bear, is the symbol of the World Wildlife Fund. It is found only in the mountains of Southeast China and Western Tibet. The giant panda is endangered and strictly protected by law.
There are only a few hundred giant pandas in the world.
The body length of a newborn bamboo bear is 10 centimeters!
Basically, the giant panda feeds on bamboo shoots and leaves, roots, and only occasionally changes its vegetarian habit by eating small rodents.
The red panda is less well known than the bamboo bear, and much smaller. Her back and tail are red, and her belly and paws are black.
Argali, tar and markhor.
On the "roof of the world" live freely different kinds steep-horned herbivores, outwardly similar to goats. They are very agile: they can easily jump over sheer cliffs or stop to nibble grass in places where it would seem impossible to climb. Some species, such as the taru, are threatened with extinction, although they do not have many enemies, except for humans.
markhor
Markhor. He has unusual twisted horns, directed vertically upwards. Markhor can climb steep cliffs to feast on tender tree leaves.
Tar can jump up to 10 meters without hurting himself. He did well in America.
Argali
Argali. In another way, it is called a wild Altai goat. Lives in herds. Males have very developed horns. Sometimes fierce battles are fought between them, while they butt with force, but they never seriously injure each other.
Alpine arc.
The Alps are the oldest mountain range in Europe. This is a mountain range in the form of an arc, stretched from west to east, about 1100 long and about 250 kilometers wide. The borders of such states as Italy, France, Switzerland and Austria pass along it. Many alpine peaks are covered with eternal snow, and often melting ice and glaciers from them. Broad-leaved and coniferous forests predominate here. At an altitude of 2000 meters, the forests disappear, giving way to dense shrubs and meadows. The animal world is also diverse, and the number of various animals is constantly growing, despite the presence of humans in the Alps, due to the fact that hunting and fishing are strictly controlled. Recently, the lynx has reappeared in Italy, having disappeared here more than two centuries ago.
The highest peak of the Alps: Mont Blanc - 4,810 meters.
Redwing wall climber
Red-winged wall climber. This bird has gray plumage on the body, and black-red on the wings. She quickly moves her nimble paws over sheer cliffs, exploring cracks in search of insects that she feeds on.
Viper
Viper. This snake does not lay eggs in the ground, they develop directly in its body, and therefore the cubs are born alive. Never attacks first unless disturbed.
black grouse
Grouse. During the mating season, male grouse attract females with certain behavior: they scream, bounce, mutter, bowing their heads and fluffing their tails, and sometimes they will fight. The place where this happens is called a lek, and the behavior of males is lekking.
Golden eagle
Golden eagle. It lives in the highest and inaccessible areas of the Alps. Lives alone and only during incubation of eggs and feeding of chicks - with a female. Soaring high in the sky, the golden eagle surveys its territory, looking for prey and driving out alien relatives. The golden eagle, hunting for artiodactyl cubs, grabs them and takes them to its nest.
It is the horns and hooves that allow many mountain animals, the so-called artiodactyls, to survive. Horns are an important defensive weapon against predators and an effective means to assert their dominance in the herd. Hooves that look so slippery are actually well adapted to their habitat - sheer, often snow-covered rocks; they allow animals to climb the steep and move with amazing ease. The enemies of artiodactyls are wolves and lynxes, which, after many years, return to the Alps again.
Chamois
Chamois. It is found at such heights where there is no longer woody vegetation; in winter it descends lower and visits the forest thickets. Lives in small herds. The female gives birth to only one cub, which after a couple of hours can independently follow the mother. When the chamois rests on the foot, the hoof spreads out and forms an ideal footing both on the ground and on the snow. The horns of the chamois are short and bent back almost at a right angle.
Mountain goat
The mountain goat is a massive artiodactyl animal with a short beard and large horns, which in males can reach one meter.
mouflon
Mouflon. The only wild sheep living in Europe. The male is easily recognizable by the horns, wide at the base and twisting in a spiral. The mouflon's horns grow throughout its life. Mouflon is a herbivore, sometimes gnaws at the bark of young trees.
Marmot
Marmots are large alpine rodents. The mass of this rodent, depending on the season, ranges from 4 to 8 kilograms. Like all rodents, the groundhog has very developed incisors that do not stop growing throughout their lives, and in cubs they are white, and in adult rodents they are yellowish. The groundhog has been known since ancient times: even the Roman writer Pliny the Elder (23 - 79 AD) called it an alpine mouse, noting that "it lives underground and whistles like a mouse" in winter, the groundhog hibernates in a hole prudently filled with food, which he will gnaw during short awakenings. He will leave his hole only in the spring.
The groundhog has a short tail covered with tousled hair and small paws. Under the groundhog's skin there is a thick layer of fat that protects it from the cold and serves as an energy reserve. The inhabitants of the Alps are convinced that this fat - good remedy for the treatment of respiratory organs.
These animals spend a lot of time near their burrow, looking for food. Older marmots sit on their hind legs and carefully study the surroundings. Noticing the danger, they warn other marmots about it with a characteristic whistle.
One of the groundhog's enemies is the raven, an agile predator that attacks groundhog cubs. If crows usually attack in flocks, then the golden eagle flies quietly alone. From a height, he outlines the prey and swoops down on it. Approaching, it slows down the fall, stretching out its paws, releases its claws and grabs the unfortunate victim, not giving it the slightest opportunity to escape. The golden eagle preys not only on marmots, but also on rabbits, hares, snakes, artiodactyl cubs.
The marmot feeds on roots, leaves, and grass; while eating he sits on hind legs, and holds food in front.
Whistling for marmots is not only a signal warning of approaching danger, but also a means of communication. In case of alarm, as soon as they hear the whistle, all the marmots immediately take refuge in their burrows, not even making sure that they are actually threatened. It seems that the chamois perceive the whistle of the marmot alarming them as a warning of danger.
St. Bernard.
St. Bernard is a large dog with very long hair in black-red-white color. Back in the 17th century, they were bred by the monks of the monastery of St. Bernard, located on one of the Alpine passes. They used these dogs to search for travelers caught in a snow fall or avalanche. The St. Bernards found the unfortunate and pulled them out from under the snow, raking it with their paws.
Although it is one of the most large dogs- she weighs about 8 kilograms, her character is meek and docile.
Barry is the nickname of the most famous St. Bernard; in 12 years he saved about 40 people.
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Horned animals are found all over the globe. Huge herds of antelopes graze in Africa, mighty elk roam in the northern forests. Deer and elk antlers are bone processes without a horn sheath, usually branched. The horns are shed at the end of the mating season, and after a few months they grow back.
In other horned animals (antelopes, bison, sheep, cows, goats), the horn is a bone rod covered with a horn sheath, which grows along with the rod, never branches and is not replaced throughout the life of the animal. The gazelle's horns grow up to 1 m; in the Asian buffalo - up to almost 2 m. In the bighorn sheep, the horn looks like a twisted spiral.
The African antelope nyala and the great kudu have magnificent horns twisted with a screw. In this group of ungulates, the pronghorn is unique - it sheds its horny sheath every year, while the bone base remains.
animal horns
From a human point of view, horns are a means of protection from predators. Indeed, some animals, such as musk ox, bighorn goat and sometimes deer, use them to fight off enemies. But the main purpose of the horns is not protection, but a mating ritual. With the help of horns, males demonstrate their dignity to their own kind, threaten, fight, solving territorial conflicts, determining the strongest and most sexually attractive animal.
During the mating season, rival male bison jostle, grappling with their horns. Dall's rams literally head-butt and then stop to compare their horns: rivals will only seriously fight if their horns are the same. It happens that the males of the noble and other deer cling so tightly with their antlers that they cannot disperse - a showdown threatens both with starvation.
The horns are also used for other purposes. They, for example, scratch their backs, dig out food.
Deer horns
After the mating season, deer shed their antlers, and in the northern hemisphere this happens at the beginning of winter. Deer antlers are ossified processes of the frontal bone. As soon as the horns fall off, a bone stump remains in their place, covered with skin and cartilage on top. From this hemp, subsequently, new horns grow. In red and reindeer, the growth of antlers reaches more than 1 cm per day. Then the skin falls off and ossification of the horns occurs.
Not all deer grow antlers. In some animals, such as the white-tailed and red deer, only males wear this "headdress". And in musk deer, neither females nor males have horns. Their function in males is performed by saber-shaped fangs 7-9 cm long.
Horns in medicine
I use deer antlers traditional medicine. The drug is made from the dried and crushed layer of skin that covers the growing horn. Substances contained in the tissue of the horns have medicinal properties. They heal wounds well and contribute to age-related changes in the human body.
It is widely believed that rhinoceros horn, whose tissue is similar to that of a hoof, also has healing properties, for example enhances sexual potency. There is no evidence of the reality of the medicinal effect of the drug, however, because of it, rhinos in Asia are almost destroyed. Demand for deer antlers also affected the abundance of some species.
Horns bony, covered with hair or stratum corneum, or naked appendages of the skull. They are found mainly in mammals, although it is likely that some fossil reptiles also had them. Thus, a fossil form recently found in Scotland (Elginia mirabilis) had a skull equipped with several pairs of bony protrusions. Likewise, some Dinosauria fossils had lateral bony protrusions, and sometimes unpaired ones, on the nasal bones. It is quite possible that on these protrusions the horny layer of the skin received enhanced development and thus a complete resemblance of R. was obtained. The tendency to form R. in reptiles, the closest ancestors of mammals, is already interesting because it explains to us the ugly appearance of R. in horses and other mammals, which are not only deprived of these organs themselves, but also in the closest ancestors of which we cannot assume their existence. R. in a horse, for example, can by no means be considered a return to ancestors, since its now well-known ancestors did not have R. But this anomaly will become partly understandable if we recall that the most distant ancestors of all mammals - reptiles - already had a tendency to develop R and that this tendency may be common to all mammals. The simplest form of R. is now represented by giraffes, in which R., characteristic of both sexes, are bony appendages of the skull, covered with skin and hair. R. these do not change. R. deer differ from R. giraffes in the following features: they fall off annually and are replaced by new ones, and the number of branches increases from year to year; they are covered with skin and hair only at the beginning, while they are soft, filled with blood; and then, when the bone substance that forms them hardens, is impregnated with lime, the skin dies and falls off, and the bone is exposed; finally, with the exception of only the reindeer (Rangifer tarandus), in which both males and females are supplied with R., in deer R. are characteristic only of males. Both in deer and in giraffes, R. are formed due to the subcutaneous connective tissue and then adhere to the tubercles on the skull. R. appear in the first year of life, but only from the third year they receive an additional branch (Fig. 1). Sometimes R. remains with only one branch (Indian Cervulus or deer), but most often the number of branches increases and R. turns into huge appendages, sometimes reaching a weight of 2 pounds or more. The lowest branch, which goes forward and, as it were, serves as protection for the eyes, is called the ophthalmic, but sometimes, as in the roe deer (Cervus capreolus), the ophthalmic branches may be absent. The very form of deer rhizome is very diverse, but two main types can be noted: in one case, as for example in red deer (Cervus elaphus), deer (C. maral), etc., the trunks and branches of rhizome are round in section (Fig. one); in another case, the R. expand spatulately or only along the top, as, for example, in the reindeer (Fig. 2), or over a large extent, as in the fallow deer (Dama vulgaris, fig. 3) or the elk (Alces palmatus, fig. 4). Fig. 2. Reindeer antlers (Rangifer tarandus); a And a"- eye branches. R. deer, or Siberian deer, being cut in the spring while they are soft, and dried in a special way, are valued by the Chinese as medicine(exciting). These horns are called antlers and are sold, depending on the weight, sometimes very expensive. That is why a whole industry arose - deer breeding. Local residents keep deer in captivity and in the spring they cut off the males' horns for sale. The horns of the family of antelopes, bulls and sheep, unlike the horns of deer, do not change; characteristic for the most part of both sexes, although among antelopes it is often the same males; from above, their skin is covered with a highly developed horny sheath; in most cases they do not branch. In antelopes, the R. is dense, and in bulls and sheep, the frontal sinus continues at the base of the bone rod of the R., that is, the cavity enclosed in the frontal bone of many mammals. Therefore, the families of bulls (Bovidae) and sheep (Ovidae) are called bovids (Cavicornia). P. of the described type develop either as processes of the frontal bones, or sometimes from a special ossification (os cornu), then attached to the skull. Their horny layer, like the stratum corneum of the skin, slowly exfoliates and renews, and, due to the unevenness of this process, ring thickenings are sometimes formed at the base of the R., which make it possible to judge the age of the animal. Only in two antelopes, namely the American antelope (Antilocapra americana, fig. 5), whose R. is equipped with a small adnexal branch in front, and even in the Central Asian saiga (Saiga tatarica), the horny sheath of R. undergoes periodic annual decay and replacement, i.e. e. molt. In addition to the aforementioned antelope, the R. of the type described are usually devoid of lateral branches, but their shape is very diverse. They may be straight (for example, in Oryx beisa, fig. 6), or coiled (for example, Antilope cervicapra), etc. R. of the sheep family, which includes sheep and goats, bent back and to the sides, at the base compressed from the sides or from front to back, annulated, angular in section, and the horns are compressed from the sides, bent back, with strongly developed ringed elevations are characteristic of goats ( Capra, fig. 8), but compressed from front to back, curved in a spiral back and outward, with slight annular eminences, are characteristic of sheep (Ovis, fig. 7). In bulls (family Bovidae), P. are smooth, at least at the top, and curved outwards. The horny layer of R. of this type goes on numerous horn products. Usually R. are paired, if we leave aside the aforementioned Dinosauria, and usually there is one pair of R., but in the South Asian genus Tetraceros (with the only species T. quadricornis) in the male behind two short front R., placed just above the eyes, two more longer R. sit, and the females of this species are hornless. As an anomaly four R. are observed at a cow and at sheep. The fossil ungulate, Dinoceras, apparently had four R., sitting on bone tubercles, 2 were on the jaw, and 2 were on the frontal bones. Turning now to various kinds of anomalies, in addition to the already indicated appearance of R., in animals that do not have them, we note the appearance of hornless individuals in horned species, which sometimes, apparently, could give rise to hornless breeds. So, according to Azar, the Paraguayan hornless breeds descended from a hornless bull born in 1770, and at a later time, according to the famous livestock specialist Korneven, the hornless Belgian breed of cows Angus originated in the same way. It sometimes happens that R.'s base does not ossify, and then R. is mobile. Göring saw a similar cow in India. Korneven described a case where R. of a bull was provided with a huge swelling in the form of a pear-shaped mass. Finally, R. may appear as an anomaly not on the head, but on other parts of the body. So, in one bull, Lesbre described a horn sitting on the neck, which had the same annular grooves that appear with age, like normal R., but the internal cavity was filled with connective tissue, and not bone substance, as in normal R. In addition , there are horn-like growths, consisting of only one horny substance, without the participation of bone or connective tissue. Such outgrowths have been observed in mammals and even in birds, and R. found in humans should be assigned to this type. They were observed on the hairy part of the head, on the forehead, temples, auricle, hands, male genital parts (scrotum, glans and praeputium). Sometimes they are mobile, sometimes they adhere tightly to the periosteum of the adjacent bone. Their shape and size are different: sometimes conical, sometimes bent by an arc, sometimes spirally developed; their surface is covered, for the most part, with protrusions and transverse grooves. The length reaches 8, 10, 12 or more centimeters. They consist of a mass of brownish keratinized cells (see the horny layer of the skin).
The fauna of the Earth is incredibly rich. The planet is inhabited by a variety of interesting creatures - predators, herbivores - everyone has their own individual appearance. Horned animals are representatives of herbivores. Some are domesticated and some are wild. Their horns also differ in size and shape, for example, cow horns from deer horns.
Cattle
Domestic horned animals are cows, bali, yaks. They all have large dimensions and the presence of horns. The horns of artiodactyls are peculiar processes growing from the skull, located far from each other, growing mainly to the sides. Horns in cows and yaks are inherent in both males and females. With their help, bulls fight for the championship in the herd. Why are they in cows? And they are given by nature to large herbivores so that they can protect themselves and their young from predators. This is the main weapon for large, well-marked individuals. It is believed that the larger the horns of a cow, the more milk it will produce. This dependence has not been proven by science, but farmers are guided by this sign and have proven in practice that there is a connection.
What do the horns of rams and goats look like?
Horned animals are diverse in appearance and everyone's horns are different. In cows, they have a straight shape, a wide base and a thin, pointed tip. In rams and goats, they are completely different. There are corkscrew-shaped ones (they are bent with a sickle (at a ram), argali have spiral horns, and the Siberian goat is armed with a "weapon" similar to sabers. Domestic rams do not have as big horns as their wild relatives, they are mostly twisted Such bagels cannot cause severe harm, but they can frighten off a predator, distract for a while.Goats have a strong weapon that has remained unchanged for many centuries, they are sharp, thin and capable of severely injuring a predator or rival.
Elk: description of the animal
The largest species of the Deer family is the elk. It is an artiodactyl mammal, herbivore, very large horned animal. Mighty elk giant that inhabits forests. These majestic horned animals are beautiful. Males weigh up to six hundred kilograms, the maximum body length reaches three and a half meters. The height at the withers, which has the shape of a hump, is often found under two and a half meters. The appearance of moose is very different from other deer, first of all, these are horns. It is also humpbacked withers, long legs. An elk cannot lean fully towards the ground, so it often requires them to go deep into the water or kneel to eat to drink. Elk is a treasured prey for hunters. Everything is valued in this animal - meat, skins, and even horns - they decorate walls, make hangers for outerwear.
Features of moose antlers
Elk moose is called because of its horns - their structure resembles a plow. Male moose have the largest antlers of all living mammals. Their size can reach two meters, and weight - more than thirty kilograms. The females don't have any. The elk sheds its old antlers every year in the fall and grows new ones throughout the year. They have a spatulate shape, horny processes extend from a large plane. These processes can be used to judge the age of the elk. To get rid of the annoying horns, moose rub them against the trees, it happens that the horns get stuck in the branches and bushes through which the beast made its way. Often the elk loses them in battle.
The antlers that the elk shed are different in structure from those obtained by shooting the animal. Discarded have a grayish color, porous structure. The horns of a killed elk are light and dense, therefore they are valued much more. On the upper side, the elk antlers are grayish-brown, and inside, closer to the middle, they are almost white. For crafts, specimens of young individuals are used - fifteen centimeters. They make one-piece small products, decorated with carvings.
Recently, paleontologists unearthed an exotic relative of the giraffe in Spain - with saber fangs and three horns. The middle horn reminded scientists of the hairstyle of Queen Amidala from " star wars"(In honor of her, the beast got its name). Further in the article, a list of fossil mammals with incredibly bizarre horns, whose portraits were created by the artist Lucas Lima(Lucas Lima).
Giraffe Xenokeryx amidalae
Two horn processes were located above his eyes, and the third, T-shaped, was on the top of his head. The central horn is similar to the hairstyle of Queen Amidala from Star Wars, which is why the animal was named Xenokeryx amidalae (“Amidala's strange-horned alien”).
He lived in the Miocene era (15.5 million years ago) and belonged to a group of extinct horned ruminants, from which only okapi and giraffes have survived to this day.
Sivatherium (Sivatherium)
Of the ancient giraffes, they lasted the longest - their images are marked on frescoes that are only eight thousand years old. They lived from Africa to South Asia. They got their name, probably, in honor of the Indian god Shiva.
The head of the sivatherium is laterally compressed by two pairs of horns: the anterior ones are small, conical shape directed forward; the hind horns are massive, flat, branched, similar in shape to the horns of a modern elk. The horns, probably, like those of all giraffes, were covered with skin and hair.
Elasmotherium (Elasmotherium)
The hairy rhinoceros of Eurasia became extinct about 50,000 years ago. Perhaps primitive people managed to draw it on the walls of Spanish caves. Weighed up to four tons and was a herd animal: on Siberian plains whole herds of elasmotherium grazed.
The animal had a massive protruding bony forehead: it is assumed that it had a powerful horn up to one and a half meters long. The horns themselves have not yet been found (apparently, they consisted of proteins, and not of bone) - their presence is judged by indirect signs.
The bony outgrowth on the forehead has numerous grooves and depressions - traces of many blood vessels necessary for the intensive activity of tissues that generate the production of keratin, which, in turn, forms a long keratin horn.
Horned ground squirrel (Ceratogaulus)
The smallest horned mammal - and the only horned rodent. He lived several million years ago on the Great Plains of North America and, most likely, in holes (this is indicated by poor eyesight and powerful claws on paws similar to oars).
Large double rodent horns protruded from the bridge of the nose. Scientists are still arguing why the animal needed such strange devices - to dig the ground, attract females, or defend itself from predators. The location of the horns makes the first version unlikely, and their presence in animals of both sexes speaks in favor of a protective function.
Synthetoceras (Synthetoceras tricornatus)
Real Cenozoic Triceratops! These animals roamed the plains of the wild American West in the late Miocene, and no less than the mustang deserve the honor of becoming its symbol: from a gun mounted on a “slingshot” on the snout of Synthetoceras, one could easily shoot enemies.
However, in fact, this draft of a unicorn belonged to the family of corns (Protoceratidae) - probable relatives of camels. It is not clear whether the processes were covered with a cornea, but apparently they were not shed annually (as modern deer do).
Brontotherium (Brontotherium)
Huge, powerful omnivorous odd-toed ungulates. They lived in North America and became extinct about 30 million years ago. They were only slightly larger than modern rhinos. Brontotheres had a relatively small head on a short powerful neck and close-set eyes.
On the nose of the brontotherium was a large bone process, the surface of which was covered with strong skin. Such a process, formed by overgrown nasal bones, was flat, like a shovel, and in some species it forked at the end.
Bramaterium (Bramatherium)
Another representative of the giraffe family, a relative of Sivatherium (only small). Lived in the Miocene-Pliocene in Asia, from India to Turkey. The bramater had some resemblance to the okapi (Okapia johnstoni).
But, unlike the okapi, he had not two, but five horns on his head. In sivatherium (Sivatherium), large posterior ossicons are usually more developed, and in bramateria, the anterior ones.
Apparently, such horns had a demonstration function, but they could also be used in fights between males. The individuals hit each other with the help of the massive base of the ossicons and the rear pair directed to the sides.
Arsinotherium (Arsinoitherium zitteli)
In appearance, the beast resembled a rhinoceros, although in terms of the structure of the skeleton and limbs it was closer to an elephant. Two large bone horns on the muzzle were not located one behind the other, like a rhinoceros, but side by side. Apparently, they were covered with a horny sheath of keratin, like in modern cows.
The horns were not intended for battle, as they were hollow inside. There is speculation that they were used to create loud trumpet sounds so that males could attract females with their help.
Arsinotherium is the only family in the extinct order of embryopods. This is a very unusual group of animals of unknown origin, having no descendants. Remains of Arsinoitherium zitteli have been found only in the Oligocene deposits of the Fayum Basin in Egypt.
Bighorn deer (Megaloceros)
The well-known bighorn deer (Megaloceros) is practically a contemporary of humans: it lived until the end of the last ice age.
It was distinguished by huge (up to 5.2 meters in span) horns, greatly expanded at the top in the form of a shovel with several processes. He lived, apparently, in the meadows, since in the forest a male with such horns would not be able to move.
Samotherium (Samotherium)
One of the oldest giraffes lived from 10 to 5 million years ago (Miocene).
It was a large animal (height at the withers more than two meters, length about three meters), which lived in tall grass savannahs and valley forests from Western Europe to China and North Africa. The first fossils were found on the island of Samos in the Aegean Sea (hence the name).